Matthew S. Chan Blog

Prior to leaving on my final day in Los Angeles, I went to the Warner Brothers VIP Studio Tour in Burbank, California.  More specifically, I signed up for the 5-hour Deluxe version of the studio tour at a cost of $150.00.  Only 10-people are allowed in a Deluxe Tour.  This followed my Sony Pictures Studios Tour the day before.

Because I am in the publishing industry where I deal with Internet, print, audio and video media, this was an easily justifiable business expense.  Without question I am a movie buff but I was very much there for educational reasons.  I looked at this tour as a one-day seminar of how the “big boys” create these multi-million dollar productions.

This tour begins with a 15-minute retrospective of the origins of Warner Brothers.  There literally were 4 brothers with the last name Warner.  These brothers originally began in the East Coast with their movie theatre business .  And then they decided they might be able to make more money if they were able to also create and produce their own movies to show in their own theatres.  Clearly, that was the beginning of a legacy which has lasted to this day.

The Warner Brothers exterior sets were more extensive and impressive than Sony Pictures.  In fact, the WB lot is so large, we were taken around in a cart by the tour guide.  Our tour guide was clearly passionate about his job and it showed.  However, I did think he was a bit regimented in that it was very difficult to ask questions.  You would think that in this longer tour, there would be ample opportunity to ask questions but that was frequently not the case.  He was clearly in charge of the group and rattled off trivia after trivia as we visited various sets.

One of the most impressive sets I have ever seen is the Chicago set used by the producers of E.R.  E.R. is a long-runnning medical drama.  I am not a big fan but I have seen a few episodes of it.  The exterior sets of E.R. is very impressive for the detail that was put into it.  Although the sets have been around 12+ years, they looked like they had been around for 50 years with considerable wear and tear having that aged, filthy, back-alley look in Chicago.  Even up close, it was difficult to tell that these sets were artificially aged and worn.  The authentic look was simply amazing.

The set also had the back entrance to the E.R. hospital where ambulances roll in patients.  That set was also amazing.  It really looked like a hospital E.R entrance with the wear and tear of one.

Being a fan of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, we had the chance to see the actual sets of where the characters live.  We even see the scars in the street as a result of the explosion in the season finale.

We passed by the exterior sets of Uncle Jesse’s and Boss Hoggs’ home from Dukes of Hazzard.  In the TV show, they were two different buildings in two different locations.  In actuality, they are the same building!  One is filmed from the front, the other from the rear.  Again, move movie magic.

We went through an exterior set of a suburban neighborhood which actually had office workers in each of the houses.  When you are walking in those sets, it really does feel like you are in a suburban neighborhood, not a movie set on a movie lot.

We eventually broke for lunch.  End of Part 1.

Having planned a couple of extra days to enjoy Los Angeles, I booked a ticket to visit Sony Pictures Studios Tours.  Like most of the movie studio tours, they are not well advertised or marketed.  Most people find out about movie studio tours from word-of-mouth or by seeking it out.

Being a big movie fan myself, it was a high priority for me to check out all the movie studio tours.  (I scheduled the Paramount Movie Studio Tour for the morning but goofed up my schedule and arriving too late.)

The Sony Pictures Studios Tour located in Culver City, CA costs $28.00.  You can purchase tickets online in advance (with a $2.00 fee) or simply make reservations.  I did not know I could make reservations until AFTER I had bought tickets online.  Because I also wanted to attend the Warner Brothers VIP Studio Tour, it was a bit of a trick to schedule 3 studio tours within a 2-day period.  Because of limited availability of the Warner Brothers Deluxe Studio Tour (a 5-hour version of the WB VIP Studio Tour), I was forced to reschedule my tickets with Sony Pictures Studio Tour.  Fortunately, the folks at Sony were accommodating.  They were able to simply use my same ticket but schedule it for another day.

The Sony Pictures Studios Tour is a 2-hour walking tour of the old MGM Studios that Sony Pictures bought out.  Underground parking is free in the visitor section of the Sony Pictures office building.  One of the things you learn early in the tour is how MGM sold off so much of their backlots over the years that what they have left is much smaller than how they started.

Even with that, there is still plenty of walking to do.  I recommend some comfortable walking shoes.  They say that no two tours are exactly alike.  They attribute this to the fact that every tour guide has a different style and the daily circumstances are such that the tour is designed to be flexible just in case the tour encounters an actual TV or movie production.  If that happens, the tour obviously work around these important and well-controlled events.

On my tour, sound stages had been set on the upcoming movie “Angels & Demons” which is a prequel to the movie and book of the same name “Da Vinci Code”.  We also passed by Beyonce Knowle’s trailer and the sound stages for her upcoming movie “Obsessed”.

I made my first visit to a Foley studio which is where many sound effects are created.  We also visited the set and green room of “Jeopardy”.  I have to say that Green Room was a bit nasty but the tour guide said it was because a party was thrown a couple of nights earlier and it had not yet been clean.  The Green Room is really a green room.  Apparently, green is supposed to help calm the nerves of people who will eventually go out on stage.

We walked through many interesting exterior sets that had real-life workers within the building!  Apparently, the designers and architects make the insides of the buildings functional but decorate the outside in such a way to create the illusion you are in a different city or locale.

I don’t want to give the entire tour away but those were the highlights.  My tour guide, Tony, is an aspiring screenwriter and seems to enjoy giving movie studio tours as he looks for his big break.

Overall, anyone who loves movies and wants to learn more about the behind-the-scenes of movie-making should check out Sony Pictures Studios Tour.

I just returned from over a week-long adventure in Los Angeles that included the huge 2008 Book Expo America in Los Angeles.  This event followed the 3-day IBPA’s Publishing University also in the same city.

The last time I attended Book Expo America was in 2002 in NYC.  It was before I started my publishing firm, Ascend Beyond Publishing.  I definitely feel like I waited too long to go back but I did try to make up for lost time soaking it all up and managed to get some nice advance copies of upcoming books.

I am a book lover myself which is one reason I got into the publishing business.  I can honestly say my legs hurt every night from all the walking on the convention floor during the day.  The are so many exhibitors to visit and products to check out.

I had not planned on attending another Book Expo America for another 2 years but now I feel somewhat compelled to go back next year.  I have put it on my calendar.

I have a short announcement to make.  Despite my best efforts to keep my blogging efforts to a singular place (here on matthewchan.com), I have decided I will need to make some adjustments to my blogging strategy.

I will be adding a new blog to turnkeyinvesting.com and a new blog to turnkeypublisher.com.  The biggest reason for that is that I need/want to write information and updates that are industry and audience-specific to those websites.

For me to post some of the technical and industry-specific articles that I will write would be lost on the general audience that visits this site.  Quite simply, it would be unfair to readers who only care about one business segment of what I do to read issues that have nothing to do with the other.

Having said all that, there might be the occasional post that may apply to all the different blogs which I will simply cut and paste to them.

So, stay tuned for the announcements of the yet-unnamed blogs on turnkeyinvesting.com and turnkeypublisher.com.

It has been an exhausting 4-days since my arrival into Los Angeles to attend the IBPA’s (Independent Book Publishers Association) 2008 Publishing University Conference.  It was a great 3-day experience taking in the variety of experiences and information shared.  I think there must have been nearly 300 people including staff, speakers, attendees, and guests.  The one thing that persistently shows up is how little business sensibilities most wannabe authors have.  Most are so desperate to become authors, they throw their promotional stuff to everyone and anyone.

I have to admit even I was overwhelmed with some of the new information and distinctions that were presented especially in the area of media and public relations. I met some important people and contacts that might be instrumental to some changes I plan on making to my publishing business in the months to come.

The full impact of what I got out of IBPA’s Publishing University will linger until after I get back.  Fresh off of that 3-day conference, I have just begun my next 3-day run at the 2008 Book Expo America.  It has been 6 years since I attended this huge industry event.  I think I waited 2 years too long to come back.  I won’t make that mistake again.

My feet is sore.  I have had three 11-hour days.  Today, I put in a light 9-hours and so I have a chance to update this blog.  I can do some reading and catch up on some work in my hotel room.

It isn’t often that I run into an online video that truly makes me stop and think.  Most online videos I see on YouTube are stupid, nonsensical, and just a lot of goofiness going on.  At best, I would say it is entertaining.  At worst, it is a waste of time and bandwidth.

However, in a phone conversation with my investor friend Joe, I was ranting and complaining how the quality of education both in the public and private sector is terrible.  How much of the real estate seminar industry was pretty sleazy and appealed to people’s ignorance.  And how so many people will suffer financially in their lives because of the mis-education and mis-information people accept as gospel.

I ranted on how people are not taught to think and not able to discern what is good information and what is bad.  Further, that the rate of change in our world would only reward those able to adapt, not people who clung to old ideas and notions of what the world SHOULD be like vs. accepting what the world IS.

In that spirit, Joe mentioned a video he had seen on YouTube.  It was referred to him by another person.  He told me to do a search on “shift happens”.  I got a chuckle out of that phrase but thought it was quite appropriate to what we were talking about.

Tonight, I finally had the opportunity to search “shift happens” on YouTube and I found related videos also entitled “Did You Know?”

I will not reveal the content of those videos but I will say, it made me speechless and it scared me.  It made me reflect on what I am doing today and what direction I am taking for the future.  And while I have not entirely figured out what I will do in the months and years to come, I do know that I cannot sit still.  I also know that I have to be prepared to leave people behind.

There will be people who will not accept the message of exponential change in the videos.  It will be too much for them to take.  They will either be paralyzed with fear unable to move or they will go into hiding being in denial that it will not affect them.  Either way, my feeling is that you have to ally, partner, and associate with those will want to move through the next waves of change or you will become a victim.

There is no way the government can save everybody.  There will be victims, many of them.  The strong, smart, and nimble will flourish unbelievably.  The weak, ignorant, and slow will find the future to be a depressing place.

The wealthy will continue to become wealthier.  The poor will become poorer.  25% of the middle-class will adapt and improve their lifestyles.  The other 75% will drop further down in their socio-economic ladder begging for assistance.

I believe at least half of the millennial-generation will continue to be dependent on their parents until they are age 30.  While they have the advantage of being technology-adaptable on their side, their poor work ethic, lack of professionalism, lack of discipline, and poor coping skills will hinder them.  But it is not entirely their fault.  The spoiled attitude of the millennial generation is a result of poor parenting skills of the baby-boom generation.  They pander to their children and do not have the emotional resolve to be strong parents.

Regardless of my observations of the millennial generation, I invite you to go check out the “Did You Know 2.0″ Video.  It is an excellent educational and thoughtful video.  It is well worth the 8 minutes out of your life to view it.

I am happy to announce that the Columbus Marriott has tentatively agreed to host “The 2008 TurnKey Investor’s Portfolio-Building Workshop” on the weekend of October 10-12, 2008 which is coincidentally the weekend of Columbus Day.

The Columbus Marriott is, in my view, the nicest hotel in the Columbus GA area.  It is a great environment for out-of-town and out-of-state visitors to stay at and is located in the heart of Historic Downtown Columbus.  This location is central to most of our investment properties throughout the local area.

After some thought, I thought an October seminar was a little better than the September date I previously announced since it gives us more time to get the word out of this upcoming seminar.  It also allows us to escape the summer heat which lasts well into the fall.  Come October, it may be warm, but it should not be hot.  When we go visiting properties in the local area, it will be a more pleasant experience.

A brand-new MP3 audio introduction has been recorded and uploaded to “The Intrepid Way” website.

Some readers may not be clear what the book is about or what it was intended to be.  This MP3 audio Introduction should clarify what The Intrepid Way series is all about.

You can visit TheIntrepidWay.com to download the file there.  Or you can simply download the MP3 file here.